I would describe the payoff of Whopping Willow as rather opaque, but it is easy enough to get just a sheer wash of color, but if you were to just do one stroke of the pencil against your arm, it would be semi-opaque. It builds up color very well, as it doesn’t bunch up on itself, so it goes on smoothly, evenly, and can be built to opaque color. The consistency is more waxy than it is creamy, which helps it apply color smoothly, but it did tug just a bit at the lid. Whopping Willow lasted just over ten hours on me, and there was faint creasing after twelve hours. It comes in a twist-up pencil so there’s no sharpening required.

Desert Festival #1 is a pale, warm-toned beige with a satin finish. It had sheer color payoff; the texture was dry and stiff, so it made it harder to get enough product out to see more opaque color. (It looks even sheerer than it is, because it also happens to be nearly identical to my skin color!) MAC Grain is more frosted, slightly lighter. MAC Naked Lunch is a bit darker.

Desert Festival #2 is a brightened, medium orange with a matte finish. It had fairly good pigmentation, though the texture was so soft that it was also a bit dusty. I didn’t have anything quite like this–there’s a very even balance between yellow and red in this shade, so it doesn’t turn too reddish or get too dark, but it’s also not a yellowy orange. Other oranges that are matte tend to be darker and redder.

Desert Festival #5 is a grayish brown with a satiny finish. It is just a bit darker than the center shade–more distinctly cool-toned. It had underwhelming color payoff, as it, again, had a stiff and dry texture that made it hard to get product out of the pan. MAC Nebula is more shimmery. MAC Concrete is more matte.

Overall, I was disappointed in the palette, because it had a drier, stiffer texture that resulted in rather low color payoff. The best performing shade was the matte orange, followed by the shimmery orange; the other three shades were hard to work with. Muse had a similar experience, and she and I both expounded the benefits of Color Icon over this. I could not wear this palette without a primer and achieve any semblance of decent color payoff, despite Wet ‘n’ Wild claiming these are “ultra-pigmented” and “crease-resistant.” I did wear the shades as they were without a primer, and I saw fading after six hours. With a primer, I didn’t have trouble with the shades fading. The three drier shades were harder to blend and definitely will take more time and attention to finesse the colors just right. Wet ‘n’ Wild has done better in their Color Icon Trios/Palettes, so I’d recommend checking one of those in lieu of this one.

This shade was once a palette-exclusive, but when Urban Decay reformulated their eyeshadows, it made it into their permanent range. It was one of my favorite shades then, and it’s one of my favorite shades now. The texture is soft, buttery, and dense; so smooth and intensely pigmented, Radium is a dream to work with. Whether you want rich color or need to blend it out to soften, both are easily achieved. It lasted a full nine hours on me without creasing or fading.

The pigmentation of this shade was on the weaker side, and I found that at best, I could build up the color to semi-opaque but it wanted to be semi-sheer to semi-opaque. It’s disappointing, because most of the shades that are similar tended to be darker, so this would have offered a subtler way to achieve the color–and on cooler skintones, would be less prone to looking orange. It’s Complicated had a soft texture that was finely-milled and was easy to blend out on the lid. It lasted seven hours well on me, but after nine hours, I did see some faint creasing.

For reference, it also appears in Benefit’s Most Glamorous Nudes Ever Palette–I make a point to mention that, because the palette itself is $30 but contains three other eyeshadows along with two Creaseless Cream Eyeshadows; more or less, unless you really hate the other products, it’s hard to justify $20 for one eyeshadow when you could be paying $30 and receiving six different products.

Carpet is a warm-toned, pink-plum with a soft, frost finish. It had good pigmentation, and it applied smoothly and evenly. I can’t say that I detected any glitter in the shade at all. Giorgio Armani #27 is darker, more plum than pink. MAC Universal Appeal is a smidgen darker. MAC Pink Union #1 is very similar in color though more frosted in finish.

Wonder by Wonder is a blackened purple with violet micro-glitter/sparkle. On the lid, it read mostly as a blackened purple–I couldn’t really make out the sparkle (and definitely not at a distance). The color payoff is just so-so; I felt like you could load up the brush and get decent color, but it sheers out quickly when you go to blend it. This shade was the one that looked noticeably faded after eight hours of wear, while the rest were intact. L’Oreal Smoldering Plum is darker and less red-toned. Bobbi Brown Black Violet is lighter. Giorgio Armani #2 is much, much darker–but part of that is how intense in payoff it is.

Though three of the four shades are described as glittery, I only saw any glitter (and it was micro-glitter at that, possibly even sparkle, which is even smaller) in Wonder by Wonder, but it did not translate on the lid. I didn’t see it when applied, but I also didn’t see any bits and pieces during application underneath the eye or later on, after wearing the shade for eight hours. Shimmery/frosty, absolutely, but I wouldn’t describe any of the shades are glittery (which is probably good news for most!). I was disappointed in the color payoff of Wonder by Wonder, as it tended to look a bit faded even when initially applied. Diamond Sky is the best-performing shade in the palette, though both Carpet and Splendid were good (just not perfect). I only experienced noticeable fading after eight hours of wear with Wonder by Wonder, while the other shades wore without creasing or fading for eight hours.

It has semi-opaque color coverage, but I was not able to build up the color to get fully opaque color, and compared to the other shades, the pigmentation in a single stroke was noticeably sheerer. The color applied evenly, which is important, because uneven, sheer color is something that can look off even from a distance. I did experience some very light creasing after eight hours, though it did not seem to worsen too much more when I checked at the ten-hour mark. The consistency was creamy enough that it glided on and didn’t pull at the lid, and it didn’t take too long or too little time to set.